TickTick — Printing Press CLI
Prerequisites: Install the CLI
This skill drives the ticktick-pp-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:
- Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to
$HOME/.local/binon macOS/Linux and%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\binon Windows:npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install ticktick --cli-only - Verify:
ticktick-pp-cli --version - Ensure the reported install directory is on
$PATHfor the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.
If the npx install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.6 or newer). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/productivity/ticktick/cmd/ticktick-pp-cli@latest
If --version reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on $PATH. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.
Covers both TickTick APIs: the official Open API and the richer internal V2 surface (habits, focus records, completed-task history, batch ops). The 'note edit' command encodes a field-whitelist write contract that cannot corrupt TEXT-kind daily notes, and the local SQLite mirror powers 'agenda', 'review', 'habits streaks', and 'focus stats' — ritual-shaped commands that replace multi-call fan-outs.
When to Use This CLI
Reach for this CLI whenever an agent task touches TickTick daily notes, habits, focus sessions, or weekly reviews — the surfaces the official API does not expose. It is the safe write path for daily notes and the bounded read path for briefings and reviews.
Anti-triggers
Do not use this CLI for:
- Do not use this CLI to edit TickTick calendar events synced from external calendars — that data is read-only in the V2 API
- Do not use raw 'tasks update' on a daily note; use 'note edit'
- Do not use this CLI for Dida365 (China) accounts without changing the base URL — endpoints differ
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Corruption-proof writes
note edit— Edit your daily note's content with a corruption-proof contract — the command can never flip the note's task kind or break its subtasks.Use this instead of a raw task update whenever the target is a daily note; raw updates through generic tools have corrupted notes before.
ticktick-pp-cli note edit --date today --append "20:15 wrapped the printing-press build" --dry-run
Local state that compounds
agenda— One command returns today's tasks, habits with checkin state, and focus sessions together.Reach for this at session start instead of fanning out list calls; one bounded response covers the whole briefing.
ticktick-pp-cli agenda --json --select tasks.title,habits.namereview— Gather a week of completed tasks, daily notes, focus totals, and habit checkins as one structured pack ready for synthesis.Use for weekly-review synthesis instead of paging completed tasks and re-reading seven daily notes by hand.
ticktick-pp-cli review --since 7d --jsonhabits streaks— Current streak, longest streak, and at-risk-today flags for every habit.Answers 'which habits are about to break' without hand-rolling date math over raw checkins.
ticktick-pp-cli habits streaks --jsonfocus stats— Focus/pomodoro time aggregated per day or per project over any window.Use for weekly focus totals instead of scraping raw focus records.
ticktick-pp-cli focus stats --since 7d --json
Command Reference
completed — Completed task history
ticktick-pp-cli completed— Completed tasks in a date window
focus — Focus / pomodoro records
ticktick-pp-cli focus— Focus and pomodoro records, most recent first
habits — Habits and habit checkins
ticktick-pp-cli habits checkin— Upsert habit checkins (batch add/update)ticktick-pp-cli habits checkins— Query habit checkins after a date stampticktick-pp-cli habits list— List all habits
projects — Projects (lists)
ticktick-pp-cli projects— List all projects
tags — Tags
ticktick-pp-cli tags— List all tags
tasks — Tasks — all uncompleted tasks via the V2 sync surface, single-task get, and batch mutations
ticktick-pp-cli tasks batch— Batch create/update/delete tasks (arrays of task objects; updates must carry id, projectIdticktick-pp-cli tasks get— Get a single task by id (full JSON incl. kind, etag, childIds)ticktick-pp-cli tasks list— List all uncompleted tasks (from the V2 sync check)
user — Account profile
ticktick-pp-cli user— Authenticated user profile
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
ticktick-pp-cli which "<capability in your own words>"
which resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code 0 means at least one match; exit code 2 means no confident match — fall back to --help or use a narrower query.
Recipes
Morning briefing
ticktick-pp-cli agenda --json --agent
One bounded response with today's tasks, habit state, and focus sessions for a session-start briefing.
Log a focus block to the daily note
ticktick-pp-cli note edit --date today --append "15:00-15:45 client audit prep"
Timestamped append through the corruption-proof write path.
Friday review pack, narrowed for agents
ticktick-pp-cli review --since 7d --agent --select completed.title,notes.content,focus_totals.by_day
Deeply nested week pack narrowed with --select so synthesis doesn't drown in raw JSON.
Which habits are about to break
ticktick-pp-cli habits streaks --json --select name,current_streak,at_risk
Streak math over synced checkins with only the decision-relevant fields.
Weekly focus hours by project
ticktick-pp-cli focus stats --since 7d --by project --json
Aggregated pomodoro/focus durations from the local mirror.
Auth Setup
Two tiers. The V2 internal API (habits, focus, daily notes, batch) authenticates with a session token: set TICKTICK_USERNAME and TICKTICK_PASSWORD and the CLI signs on automatically, or set TICKTICK_SESSION_TOKEN with the 't' cookie from a logged-in browser session (required for Google-SSO accounts without a password). The optional V1 Open API tier uses TICKTICK_API_TOKEN (OAuth bearer from developer.ticktick.com). Requests send a browser-like User-Agent because the API returns 503 to default clients.
Run ticktick-pp-cli doctor to verify setup.
Agent Mode
Add --agent to any command. Expands to: --json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes.
Pipeable — JSON on stdout, errors on stderr
Filterable —
--selectkeeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs:ticktick-pp-cli completed --agent --select id,name,statusPreviewable —
--dry-runshows the request without sendingOffline-friendly — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
Non-interactive — never prompts, every input is a flag
Explicit retries — use
--idempotentonly when an already-existing create should count as success
Response envelope
Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope:
{
"meta": {"source": "live" | "local", "synced_at": "...", "reason": "..."},
"results": <data>
}
Parse .results for data and .meta.source to know whether it's live or local. A human-readable N results (live) summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a terminal AND no machine-format flag (--json, --csv, --compact, --quiet, --plain, --select) is set — piped/agent consumers and explicit-format runs get pure JSON on stdout.
Paths and state
Agents should treat the CLI's path resolver as part of the runtime contract:
Use
--home <dir>for one invocation, or setTICKTICK_HOME=<dir>to relocate all four path kinds under one root.Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge:
TICKTICK_CONFIG_DIR,TICKTICK_DATA_DIR,TICKTICK_STATE_DIR,TICKTICK_CACHE_DIR.Resolution order is per-kind env var,
--home,TICKTICK_HOME, XDG (XDG_CONFIG_HOME,XDG_DATA_HOME,XDG_STATE_HOME,XDG_CACHE_HOME), then platform defaults.configcontains settings likeconfig.tomland profiles.datacontainscredentials.toml,data.db, cookies, and auth sidecars.statecontains persisted queries, jobs, andteach.log.cachecontains regenerable HTTP/cache files.Stored secrets live in
credentials.tomlunder the data dir. Existing legacyconfig.tomlsecrets are read for compatibility and leaveconfig.tomlon the first auth write.Run
ticktick-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warnto surface path and credential-location warnings.agent-contextexposes a schema v4pathsblock for agents that need the resolved dirs.For MCP, pass relocation through the MCP host config. The MCP binary does not inherit CLI flags:
{ "mcpServers": { "ticktick": { "command": "ticktick-pp-mcp", "env": { "TICKTICK_HOME": "/srv/ticktick" } } } }
Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use TICKTICK_HOME or per-kind vars as durable fleet levers, and use --home only for a single invocation. Relocation is not reversible by unsetting env vars; move files manually before clearing TICKTICK_HOME, or doctor will not find credentials left under the former root.
Agent Feedback
When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it:
ticktick-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
ticktick-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
ticktick-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
Entries are stored locally as feedback.jsonl under the resolved data dir. They are never POSTed unless TICKTICK_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or TICKTICK_FEEDBACK_AUTO_SEND=true. Default behavior is local-only.
Write what surprised you, not a bug report. Short, specific, one line: that is the part that compounds.
Output Delivery
Every command accepts --deliver <sink>. The output goes to the named sink in addition to (or instead of) stdout, so agents can route command results without hand-piping. Three sinks are supported:
| Sink | Effect |
|---|---|
stdout |
Default; write to stdout only |
file:<path> |
Atomically write output to <path> (tmp + rename) |
webhook:<url> |
POST the output body to the URL (application/json or application/x-ndjson when --compact) |
Unknown schemes are refused with a structured error naming the supported set. Webhook failures return non-zero and log the URL + HTTP status on stderr.
Named Profiles
A profile is a saved set of flag values, reused across invocations. Use it when a scheduled agent calls the same command every run with the same configuration - HeyGen's "Beacon" pattern.
ticktick-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
ticktick-pp-cli --profile briefing completed
ticktick-pp-cli profile list --json
ticktick-pp-cli profile show briefing
ticktick-pp-cli profile delete briefing --yes
Explicit flags always win over profile values; profile values win over defaults. agent-context lists all available profiles under available_profiles so introspecting agents discover them at runtime.
Exit Codes
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Success |
| 2 | Usage error (wrong arguments) |
| 3 | Resource not found |
| 4 | Authentication required |
| 5 | API error (upstream issue) |
| 7 | Rate limited (wait and retry) |
| 10 | Config error |
Argument Parsing
Parse $ARGUMENTS:
- Empty,
help, or--help→ showticktick-pp-cli --helpoutput - Starts with
install→ ends withmcp→ MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above - Anything else → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with
--agent)
MCP Server Installation
- Install the MCP server:
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/productivity/ticktick/cmd/ticktick-pp-mcp@latest - Register with Claude Code:
claude mcp add ticktick-pp-mcp -- ticktick-pp-mcp - Verify:
claude mcp list
Direct Use
- Check if installed:
which ticktick-pp-cliIf not found, offer to install (see Prerequisites at the top of this skill). - Match the user query to the best command from the Unique Capabilities and Command Reference above.
- Execute with the
--agentflag:ticktick-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent - If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help:
ticktick-pp-cli <command> --help.